RFID for available resources not connected to the network

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are apparatus and techniques for providing presence and location information from available media resources to participants in a media conference so that the participants can use then use such available resources in the conferencing interaction. When participating in such rich media conferences with presence and location capabilities, apparatus and techniques are provided for determining the device(s) being used and their capabilities and determining available resources presently connected to a network that is available to the participants and presenting such presence information to the conference participants. Additionally, apparatus and techniques are provided for obtaining presence and location knowledge of potential resources that are accessible but not connected to the network or shutdown and presenting such information to the participants. Thus, the participants can obtain presence and location information regarding accessible resources, including off-line or shutdown resources, and then use such information to enhance the conference in a number of ways.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/191,519, entitled “RFID For Available Resources Not Connected to theNetwork,” filed on Jul. 27, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,537,997, which isincorporated by reference in its entirety and for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the general technology area of mediaconferencing. More specifically, it relates to optimizing mediaconferencing so that all available resources can be located and the mostappropriate resource used during such conferencing.

Users of a computer network may communicate with each other usingvarious devices, such as an IP (Internet Protocol) telephone or a softIP phone integrated into a computer device, which are coupled with suchnetwork. In an example conferencing scenario, a voice-only conference isin progress between multiple participants over a network. There may beother media devices which are located proximate to one or more of theparticipants that would enhance the conference quality. For instance,video telephone devices may be positioned within three feet of eachparticipant, and it would be desirable to escalate the conference byutilizing such video telephonic devices. However, these video devicesmay not be coupled to the network or not turned on and, therefore, notrecognizable by the network. Thus, if the participants are not aware ofall the media devices that are proximate to themselves or to each other,the participants cannot choose the best form of communication. In ourexample, the participants of the audio conference may not be aware ofvideo devices that are proximate to them and, accordingly, will notchoose to enhance the conference by using such video telephones.

There are numerous examples of conferencing situations in which it wouldbe advantageous to detect which media resources were available withrespect to individuals and the status of such resources so as tooptimize or enhance ongoing or imminent conferencing interactions.Conventionally, if one wishes to contact another person during a ongoingteleconference, he may look up her telephone number in a directory andthen attempt to reach her by placing a conferencing call to the obtainedtelephone number. If he is unable to reach the other person via theirlandline telephone, he may then look up her cellular phone number in hisown personal directory or address book and attempt to conference herinto the ongoing teleconference. Several different communication devicesmay be attempted before the other person is eventually reached. Needlessto say, this process can use up significant amounts of time and be veryfrustrating to the caller.

In view of the above, there is a need for mechanisms for detecting thepresences of available media resources that are presently connected tothe network and their proximity to a participant or a particular area soas to use this information in a conferencing interaction. It is alsodesirable to detect media resources that are offline or powered down,which are proximate to a participant or a particular area, so as to usethem in a conferencing interaction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides apparatus and techniques forproviding presence and location information from available mediaresources to participants in a media conference so that the participantscan use such available resources in the conferencing interaction. Whenparticipating in such rich media conferences with presence and locationcapabilities, apparatus and techniques are provided for determining thedevice(s) being used and their capabilities and determining availableresources presently connected to a network that is available to theparticipants and presenting such presence information to the conferenceparticipants. Additionally, apparatus and techniques are provided forobtaining presence and location knowledge of potential resources thatare accessible but not connected to the network or shutdown andpresenting such information to the participants. Thus, the participantscan obtain presence and location information regarding accessibleresources, including off-line or shutdown resources, and then use suchinformation to enhance the conference in a number of ways.

In one embodiment, a method of facilitating a conference between aplurality of participants is provided. When a request for informationregarding a particular participant is received from a requestingparticipant, status information is provided for one or more ownedresources that are provisioned to the particular participant or in-useby the particular participant. When a request for information regardingother resources that are available for use by the particular participantis received from the requesting participant, status and locationinformation is provided for available resources that are proximate tothe particular participant regardless of whether the available resourcesare off-line or shutdown so as to allow enhancement of the conference.

In a specific implementation, a particular available resource isproximate to the particular participant when the particular availableresource is in a same geographical hot spot as the particularparticipant or within a predetermined distance from the particularparticipant. In a further aspect, the hot spot is selected from a groupconsisting of a specific room of a building, a specific floor of abuilding, and a particular building. In another specific implementation,each resource is in the form of one or more of the following components:an IM (instant messaging) application, an email application, aconferencing or meeting application, a soft IP (Internet Protocol)telephone, a physical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone,a PDA (personal digital assistant), and a computer device such as adesktop or laptop computer. In another embodiment, the provided locationinformation for one of the available resources includes a location of abadge of the particular participant.

In a specific aspect, location information of at least one of theavailable resource originates from a location mechanism integrated withthe at least one available resource. In one implementation, the locationmechanism includes a RFID (radio frequency identifier). In anotherimplementation, the RFID is read by an RFID reader or transmitted via awireless local area network (WLAN) protocol. In another implementation,the location mechanism includes a GPS (global position system) or AGPS(assisted GPS) receiver.

In another embodiment aspect, the provided status information of theavailable resources specifies one or more of the following values: on,off, in use, open, closed, online, offline, use duration, last usetimestamp, location of resource, an identifier of the particularparticipant, a resource's identifier, a hotspot identifier, acommunication type that can be used to identify a particularapplication, and an address for specifying a way to contact thecorresponding resource or particular participant. In a specific aspect,the status information is obtained from one or more presence aggregationserver(s) that collect status information regarding a plurality ofresources and the location information is obtained from one or morelocation server(s) that collect location information from a plurality ofresources. In anther aspect, the status and location information of eachresource is only provided when the requesting participant is authorizedto access information from such each resource. In a further useembodiment, the conference is escalated based on the provided status andlocation information of available resources.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will bepresented in more detail in the following specification of the inventionand the accompanying figures which illustrate by way of example theprinciples of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a network segment in whichembodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

FIG. 2A includes various data structures of a presence aggregationserver (PAS) in accordance with one implementation of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2B is an example database for use with a location server inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a location system in accordance with oneimplementation of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a presence system inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for providing and usingpresence and location information for available resources in aconferencing interaction in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic representation of a computer system in whichsome of the techniques of the present invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to a specific embodiment of theinvention. An example of this embodiment is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings. While the invention will be described inconjunction with this specific embodiment, it will be understood that itis not intended to limit the invention to one embodiment. On thecontrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, modifications, andequivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined by the appended claims. In the followingdescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. The present inventionmay be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In otherinstances, well known process operations have not been described indetail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention.

In general, the present invention combines presence and locationinformation regarding resource that are owned, provisioned to, or beingused by one or more participants in a conference with presence andlocation information regarding resources that are not owned,provisioned, in-use, or on a network to facilitate or optimizeconferencing with these participants. A resource is generally defined asany hardware and/or software component or device that can be utilized inan audio or visual conference by a participant. By way of examples,resources include IM (instant messaging) applications, emailapplications, conferencing or meeting applications, soft IP (InternetProtocol) telephones, physical voice or video IP telephones, voice orvideo cellular telephones, PDA's (personal digital assistants), wirelessand hardwired computer devices such as laptops and desktop computers,etc.

The term “presence” generally refers to various status and locationinformation regarding a participant's various owned/provisionedresources, such as a participant's email and IM (instant messaging)status. For example, presence for PersonX may include status informationthat indicates that PersonX has an open inbox for his/her associated IMpersona. In embodiments of the present invention, presence informationof various resources that are owned by (or provisioned to) or used by anindividual are tracked.

The presence information for an individual may be combined with anindividual's current location and information about resources that arefound to be proximate to the individual's current location, and thiscombined information may then be used together for conferencing invarious ways. In a first example, a person is wearing an RFID (radiofrequency identification) badge whose location is being trackedthroughout his office buildings with respect to certain hot spots. A hotspot is generally defined as a specific area, such as a room or floor ofa building, whose proximity relation to resources and individuals may bedetermined and provided during a conferencing interaction. Thus, aperson's location can be determined with respect to his badge positionand whether the badge has entered or exited a hot spot. In a secondexample, the individual is tracked by other location mechanismsimplemented within his personal communication devices, such as using GPS(global positioning system) or AGPS (assisted GPS) on the individual'scell phone. Having knowledge of a person's presence status and locationallows such person to be easily located for a conference.

When an individual's location information is used in conjunction withthe presence information (e.g., from a Presence Aggregation Server orPAS), one can then be made aware of available or provisioned componentsthat have no relationship other than proximity to a user. That is, thelocation and status of resources that are merely proximate to anindividual may also be determined in relation to such individual'slocation and presence. The location of resources that are not coupled tothe network or turned off may be determined using any suitable locationmechanism, such as any combination of GPS, AGPS, WLAN (wireless LAN),and RFID to obtain each resource's location and then collect theinformation on one or more accessible servers, such as one or morelocation servers. A suitable component that includes RFID and WLANcapabilities is the PanGo Locator available from PanGo Networks, Inc. ofFramingham, Mass.

In sum, an individual's presence and location and the location andstatus of his available resources may be combined and presented during aconference. In an example use of this combined information, a personconferencing with a second and third person can be aware that the secondperson is not using an attribute that the others within the conferenceare using, such as a video phone. The first person can then suggest tothis second person that he may want to “upgrade” his capabilities bywalking over 20 feet to an available and unused component such as avideo phone.

In other words, presence and location information regarding anindividual and her available resources are presented to a user during aconference so as to suggest solutions to the user based on what currentconference call attributes are being utilized by the meetingparticipants. This is not limited to a video phone, but could be assimple as a “shared white board” that provides the user the ability towrite something to a shared white board so that the other participantscan see her input to the white board. Visibility into what componentsare where and within the “context” of the existing conference call isprovided. This visibility can suggest new possibilities for the ongoingor about-to-be initiated conference. This “awareness” of location ofboth the user and components on and off the network combined with the“awareness” of participants in an ongoing conference allows alternativesfor enhancing the conference that were never conceived by theparticipants to be presented and then used by the participants in realtime.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a network segment in whichembodiments of the present invention may be implemented. This diagramgenerally illustrates different types of presence information andresources that can be tracked and utilized. This network is merely meantto serve as an example is not meant to limit the scope of the invention.For example, various specific components are shown in FIG. 1 anddescribed as implementing a particular function. However, the varioustechniques of the present invention may be implemented in any suitabletype and number of devices (hardware and/or software).

As shown, a portion of the network is within an office building 136. Thebuilding 136 includes a first floor and a second floor. As shown thefirst floor of building 136 includes an office 116 for PersonA and thesecond floor of building 136 includes conference room 110. Differentareas of the building may be defined as hot spots for tracking purposes.In the illustrated example, the entire first floor, the entire secondfloor, the building itself, conference room 110, and the office 116 ofPersonA may be defined as different hotspots. Any geographical area maybe defined as a hotspot, such as a person's home and automobile,different office buildings and rooms, etc.

In this example, the building 136 also includes a local area network(LAN) 102. The LAN 102 is coupled to a presence aggregation server (PAS)126 which is coupled to one or more database 128. The PAS 126 trackseach individual's provisioned or owned resources and their correspondingstatus information. The status information may indicate a resource's usein different ways, as well as address information (if relevant) thatcorresponds to an identifier of the resource that one can use toinitiate communication with an individual through such resource. The PASmay also be used to track each hotspot's provisioned resources and theirstatus and address information.

A location server 130 may also be coupled to LAN 102, as well as one ormore database 132. Typically, a LAN will include multiple distributedlocation servers that are accessible by an authorized entity. Ingeneral, the location server is a repository of the current locations ofvarious resources and individuals. The location information may take anysuitable form, such as absolute position, relative position with respectto a hotspot, relative position with respect to a building plan or amap, and be obtained by any suitable location mechanism. Currentlocation information may be sent by each resource to the locationserver. Alternatively, a resource may be polled to obtain the locationinformation. Status information of each resource may also beautomatically sent to the location server 130 (or PAS 126) via LAN 102or via wireless transmission if such resource is physically decoupledfrom the LAN 102.

Hotspots may be defined in any suitable manner. For example, hotspotsmay be defined and preconfigured in both the location server 130 and thePAS 130 or accessible on any suitable server. Alternatively, thehotspots may be programmable on the location server 130 and/or PAS, orany other accessible server, by authorized individuals. For example, aresource's owner may only be allowed set up access rights regarding thetracking of such resource with respect to hotspots.

Various types of resources and individuals and their location and statusmay be tracked with embodiments of the present invention. The PAS may beadapted to collect status information regarding resources that areprovisioned to each hotspot. As shown, the conference room 110 containsprovisioned resources in the form of an IP telephone 114 b, a projector114 a, a screen 114 d for the projector, and a whiteboard 114 c. Theseresources 114 can be defined as being provisioned to any combination ofthe conference room 110, the second floor, and building 136. Theseresources may operate to transmit their status and association with anyof their hotspots via any suitable mechanism to PAS 126, such aswireless LAN (WLAN) or a direct connection to the LAN 102.

On the first floor of building 136 is an office 116 of PersonA 122. Theoffice 116 and/or PersonA 122 may also have any number of provisioned orowned resources, such as fax 120 b, desktop 120 a, and telephone 120 a.Each resource of office 116 or PersonA 122 may also operate to transmittheir status in relation to their associated hotspot to PAS 126.

A fixed position resource can be permanently associated with aparticular hotspot and this association may be preconfigured in the PAS.Thus, provisioned and static resources only need to be adapted totransmit their status to the PAS and not their location or whether theyare located within a particular hotspot. Alternatively, the locationinformation of even fixed position resources may be sent to the PAS,along with its status information, and the PAS then determines whichhotspot to associate with the resource based on its location and knownhotspot locations. The location information regarding the resource mayalso be sent to the location server and then obtained by the PAS so asto associate the resource with a particular hotspot. The status ofmobile resources, such as video conferencing equipment on a cart, inrelationship to hotspots may be tracked in a similar manner.

The status and location of various mobile resources (provisioned or not)is also tracked. In one implementation, each resource includes an RFIDtag, and multiple RFID readers are positioned at entrances to varioushotspots. For instance, an RFID reader may be placed at entry 112 ofconference room 110 and another RFID reader placed at the entrance 118of office 116. As resources enter and exit a hotspot, the RFID readerscans the resource. The RFID readers are coupled to the LAN 102 so as totransmit which resources have left or entered a hotspot.

In another implementation, a resource may be configured with a WLANprotocol, such as 802.11. The building 136 may include a number ofaccess points to which the WLAN of each resource may transmit its statusinformation. The location of each resource may be determined by anysuitable location technique, such as triangulation with a plurality ofaccess points. A resource may also include an RFID that is configured totransmit wirelessly to the nearest access points. A resource mayalternatively include a GPS or AGPS for transmitting location, alongwith its status information to the LAN 102. The location information maybe stored in the PAS and/or location server in various manners asfurther described below.

As shown, the first floor includes access point 108. Resources having alocation mechanism and wireless protocol interface and that move to aposition that is proximate to access point 108 transmit their statusand, in effect, location to location server 130 and/or PAS 126. Asshown, laptop 106 a, PDA 106 b, and cell phone 106 c of individual 104transmit their location and status to access point 108, which then sendsthis information to location server 130 and/or PAS 126 via LAN 102. Eachperson may also have a badge containing a transmitting location device,such as an RFID combined with 802.11 LAN transmission protocol, so as totransmit the badge's location to the PAS and/or location server.

The PAS 126 and location server 130 may also have access to resourcesoutside its LAN 102. That is, these servers may have access to othernetworks that provide status and/or location information regardingresources, such as wide area network 134 or GSM or UMTS (UniversalMobile Telecommunications System) network 124, which is typically usedfor cellular telephone transmission. Other types of networks may includeother LAN's, external location servers or PAS's, the PTSN (PublicSwitched Telephone Network), a telecommunication proxy server, SIP proxyserver, TCP/IP networks (e.g., detecting network activity of a MACaddress), calendar systems such as Exchange and Mozilla Sun Bird,Bluetooth networks, ad hoc networks, etc.

Referring back to FIG. 1, cell phone 106 c may include a GPS receiverwhich works in conjunction with cell phone tower 123 and GSM/UMTSnetwork 124 to transmit its location and status through such networks tothe PAS 126 and/or location server 130 of LAN 102. More specifically,the cell phone may utilize AGPS which works in conjunction with GSM/UMTSto obtain the cell phones current location. This current location may betransmitted through any suitable networks, such as GSM/UMTS network 124,WAN 134, and LAN 102 to a location server 130 and/or PAS 126. Anysuitable number of routers or network devices may be positioned betweenthe various networks for routing data and formatting data between suchnetworks, such as router 138.

The PAS 126 may include any suitable data structures for trackingindividuals, their provisioned resources, resources that are coupled tothe network, resources that are not coupled to the network, theindividual's and each resource's location with respect to varioushotspots, as well as the status of the various resources. FIG. 2includes various data structures 200 of the PAS 126 of FIG. 1 inaccordance with one implementation of the present invention. Thefollowing example data structures are merely illustrative and not meantto limit the scope of the invention. Several suitable data formats aredescribed in the document entitled “A Model for Presence and InstantMessaging” having RFC No. 2778 by M. Day et al., IETF (February 2000),which document is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Inthis implementation, each presence data element (for a resource)includes a status field having multiple values that can be used to storevarious status types, such as on, off, in use, open, closed, online,offline, use duration, last use timestamp, location of resource, anindividual's identifier, a resource's identifier, a hotspot identifier,etc., a communication means field that can be used to identify aparticular application such as email or IM, and a contact field forstoring a way to contact the resource or individual, such as an emailaddress, IM identity, or phone number.

In the illustrated implementation, the data structures of the PAS mayinclude an individual table 202 for listing each person's provisionedresources, the use status of each resource, a time stamp of when eachresource's was last used, and an address for each resource. This tablemay also include a location of each resource (not shown), as opposed toor in addition to storing such information in the location server 130.Other suitable status indicators, such as those listed above withrespect to RFC 2778 may also be listed. This individual table 202 showsPersonC as being provisioned with a laptop that is currently off and hasbeen used last at 10:00 am and has a specified MAC address “MACA. ThisPersonB is also shown as being provisioned with a cell phone that iscurrently in use and has phone number “Ph#B”. This table 202 also showsPersonA as being provisioned with a desktop, a conference application,cell phone, an email application, and an instant messaging application.A use status, last use, and address field are also presented for eachprovisioned resource of PersonC. PersonB is shown as having provisionedresources in the form of a cellphone, email application, IM application,and conference application, as well as showing their status, last usetime, and address.

A hotspot table 204 lists hotspots and their provisioned resources, aswell as their status and last use. This table may also include anaddress for each resource (not shown). For example, conference room 110of FIG. 1 includes an IP phone 114 b which is ready for use and was lastused at 9:00 am. Table 204 also shows the office 116 of FIG. 1 asincluding provisioned resources: a desktop, conference software, email,and instant messaging, as well their various status and last use times.

The data structures of the PAS may also include data structures foraccess rights for various individuals with respect to resources of aparticular individual. The access rights may simply be a list of personsthat are allowed to access presence and/or location informationregarding the provisioned resources of a particular person The accessrights may also specify who can have knowledge of a person's positionwith respect to various hotspots. As shown, data structure 206 lists theprovisioned resources of PersonA and possible hotspots that PersonA maymove with respect to and the resource access rights for such provisionedresources and hotspots. As shown, PersonB and PersonC have access rightsto provisioned laptop, conference application, email, and conferenceroom 110 with respect to PersonA. In other words, PersonB may knowwhether PersonA has entered or exited conference room 110 and know thestatus (use and/or location) of PersonA's laptop, conferenceapplication, and email application. In contrast, only PersonD may accessthe status of PersonA's cell phone. For example, PersonA may only wishto give access to his or her spouse for her cell phone status. As shown,PersonB only has access to PersonA's status or location with respect tothe office 116 of PersonA. This table 206 may identify each resource byany suitable mechanism, such as MAC address, serial number, etc.

Table 208 lists PersonB's access rights to others with respect tovarious provisioned resources and hotspots, and table 210 listsPersonC's access rights to others with respect to various provisionedresources and hotspots. The access rights may allow a particular group,as opposed to one or more individuals, access to presence or locationinformation with respect to resources or hotspots. As shown, everyone atPersonB's work is allowed access to his status with respect toconference room 110, e.g., whether PersonB has entered or exitedconference room 110.

FIG. 2B is an example database for use with the location server 130 ofFIG. 1 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. Asshown, the data structure 250 includes a plurality of entries that eachhave a resource identity field for specifying the particular resource, alocation field for specifying a current location of the particularresource, and a time stamp field for indicating the time of the lastchange in location. The location field may specify entry to or exit froma particular hotspot. For example, the laptop, cellphone, PDA, and badgeof PersonC is specified as exiting the office of PersonA at time1.Likewise, the badge of PersonB is specified as entering conference room110 at time2. The badge of PersonA is shown as entering his own office116 at time3.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a location system 300 in accordance withone implementation of the present invention. As shown, a location agent302 may be configured to push location data of a particular resource tolocation server 130. The agent 302 may also push status informationregarding the particular resource to the location server 130.Alternatively, the status information and/or location data may be sentto a PAS.

The location agent 302 may be in the form of a software module that isconfigured in a particular resource, such as a laptop or cell phone. Thelocation agent obtains the location data (and status information) fromits resource and sends it to the location server 130. The locationserver 130 may be configured to receive location data from one or moreagents and then publish this location data to a location recipient 304.

The location recipient 304 may be in the form of any suitable entitythat is configured to receive location data from the location server,such as the presence server 126 of FIG. 1. The PAS 126 may then publishthis location information, along with presence information, toconference participants who request information regarding a particularindividual and their available resources. In one implementation, thelocation and presence data is sent to a participant when they make arequest through a specially configured conferencing application asdescribed further below. Alternatively, the location data may bereceived directly by the conference participants when requested, insteadof passing through a PAS.

The location server 130 and/or the location agent 302 may be constrainedin their distribution of location data by publishing rules 306. Thepublishing rules may be set up by the owner of the particular resource,and these rules may specify who or what entity is authorized (orprevented) to receive publication of the particular resource's locationand status information. In one implementation, one or more users areauthorized per each resource MAC address. That is, a resource isidentified by a MAC address (or any other suitable identifier) and thisidentifier is associated with a list of users that may receive location(and status) information regarding the corresponding resource. Forexample, if the publishing rules dictate that the location agent cannotsend location or status information from the particular resource toanyone, the location agent is prevented from doing so. By way of anotherexample, if the publishing rules specify that only PersonA is authorizedto receive the location data from resource, the location serverpublishes the location data from the particular resource only toPersonA. In a preferred embodiment, the publishing rules are only usedwith a location server to completely prevent the location data of aparticular resource from being sent to anyone in certain privacysituations. That is, the publishing rules are only used with a locationserver to completely block access to location data from a particularresource.

For resource's that are set up to allow location data publication tosome entities and prevent publication to other entities, the PASrecipient is then used to provide a more customized filter of publishedlocation and/or status information regarding particular resources andindividuals. FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a presencesystem 400 in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.As shown, a presence user agent 402 collects presence information fromvarious resources that are owned/provisioned to particular individualsor hotspots, and this presence information is sent to PAS 126. Asdescribed above, presence information may include various statusinformation about a particular individual or hotspot's provisionedresource. The presence user agent 402 may be configured in a particularresource, such as a laptop or PDA.

The PAS is operable to publish presence and/or location information forone or more resources to one or more watchers 404 that are authorized toreceive such information. In one example, the publishing rules may beset up by an individual to completely block transmission of a resource'spresence or location information. Access rights 208 may also be set upto specify which information may be published from the PAS to whichentities or watchers. In a specific implementation, the access rights208 may dictate to the PAS 126 that particular resource information mayonly be published to specific watchers 404.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure 500 for providing andusing presence and location information of available resources in aconferencing interaction in accordance with one embodiment of thepresent invention. This procedure 500 may be implemented, for example,when a conference is initiated via a conferencing software entity. Forinstance, a conferencing application may be modified to implementprocedures for providing presence and location data upon startup of theconferencing application. That is, embodiments of the present inventionmay be provided as a layer on top of the conferencing softwareapplication. Examples of suitable conferencing applications includeMeetingPlace software available from Cisco of San Jose, Calif. andMacromedia Breeze Conference Service available from Adobe of San Jose,Calif.

Referring back to FIG. 5, it is initially determined whether a requesthas been made for a particular user's provisioned or owned resources inoperation 502. For example, when a conference call is set up between agroup of participants and when one of the participants joins theconference, a graphical user interface (GUI) may be presented to thejoining participant that lists the other participants (who have joinedor not yet joined the conference). The joining participant may thenselect a particular participant via any suitable input mechanism, e.g.,by hitting a radio button next to the participant's name or typing inthe participants name in a “user selection” input box on the GUI.

If a request for a particular user's information has been made by aselecting participant, a list of resources and their status that areprovisioned to the particular user are then obtained and presented inoperation 504. Otherwise this step is skipped. In one implementation, arequest by the selecting participant for the particular user's presenceinformation is then sent to the PAS. The PAS responds with presenceand/or location information for resources provisioned to the particularparticipant if the selecting participant is authorized to receive suchinformation. Otherwise, an “access denied” message may be displayed ifthe requesting user does not have access rights. If some of the selectedparticipant's resource information is authorized for publication to therequesting participant, then presence or location information ispublished for only these authorized resources. In an alternativeembodiment, the selecting participant is simply not presented withunauthorized choices. For example, the selecting participant is onlyshown a list of individuals and resources to which he has presenceaccess rights.

It is then determined whether a request for resources which areproximate to a particular user has been made in operation 506. Therequest may be accomplished in any suitable manner, such as selecting aGUI input option for the particular participant. If such a request hasbeen made, the location of a particular user is determined in operation508. For example, it may be determined whether the particular user'sbadge or provisioned resources have recently been noted as entering orexiting a hotspot by obtaining location information regarding theparticular user's badge or provisioned resources from the locationserver. Alternatively, an absolute location of the user's badge orprovisioned resources may be obtained. Some of the user's resources maynot be on the user's person, and, accordingly, the user's location maybe determined by intelligently assessing the user's provisionedresources and their latest status to determine the user's most likelylocation. For example, if the user used their laptop in the last 5minutes, the user's location may be presumed to match the laptop'slocation. This determination of most likely location may be determinedautomatically by the PAS or conferencing software or manually by therequesting participant based on the presented presence and locationinformation.

It is then determined which resources that are connected to the networkare proximate to the particular user's location, and the presenceinformation of the proximate, connected resources is presented as beingproximate to the selected user in operation 510. It is also determinedwhich resources that are not connected to the network are proximate tothe particular user's location, and these resources and their presenceinformation are also presented to the selecting participant in operation512. If such a request for proximate resources is not made, operations508 through 512 may be skipped.

The proximate resources and their presence information may be obtainedin any suitable manner. For example, resources that are in a hotspotthat the selected user is occupying may be presented. Alternatively, theresources that are in the hotspot that is most proximate to the selecteduser may be presented. In another implementation, the resources thathave a location that is within a predetermined distance of the user maybe presented. The exact determination of proximity may be selectable orpreconfigured using any suitable metric.

In further examples, a selecting participant may also select widerdegrees of proximity for a particular user. For example, the requestingparticipant may first ask for resources that are within 5 meters of theselected participant; then ask for resources that are in the samehotspot as the selected participant; and then resources that are on thesame floor as the selected participant, etc. In another example, theselected participant may be mobile and it may be determined what remoteresources are within a predetermined distance to the participant. Forinstance, the nearest WLAN site may be accessed from a WLAN server andpresented to the requesting participant.

The publication of any proximity degree of resource presence andlocation information may be limited by the publishing access rights asdescribed above. That is, presence and location information is publishedonly to requesting participants who have access rights to suchinformation.

It may then be determined which interactions can be performed with thepresented and available resources in operation 514. These interactionsmay then be executed. It is then determined whether the end ofconference has occurred in operation 516. If it has, the procedure 500ends. If it has not ended yet, the procedure 500 is repeated.

Any suitable interaction may occur using the presented presence andlocation information with respect to a conference (or potential)participant. For example, a participant who has knowledge of resourcestatus and location information of resources provisioned and near aparticular participant may then determine whether a conference can beescalated from voice to video media resources, or from using a cellulartelephone to using a proximate computer device, based on whether theparticular participant has access to such resources. If a particularuser wishes to send data to another user, it may first be determinedwhat resources are near the receiving user and then which of theseavailable resources is the most reliable or efficient resource forsending data. For instance, the receiving user may be proximate to botha desktop computer device for receiving email via a cable modem and aPDA that implements wireless email. In this case, the desktop computerwould be chosen for both speed and reliability considerations.

Generally, the techniques for implementing the present invention may beimplemented on software and/or hardware. For example, these techniquescan be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate userprocess, in a library package bound into network applications, on aspecially constructed machine, or on a network interface card. In aspecific embodiment of this invention, the techniques of the presentinvention are implemented in software such as an operating system or inan application running on an operating system.

A software or software/hardware hybrid packet processing system of thisinvention is preferably implemented on a general-purpose programmablemachine selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer programstored in memory. Such programmable machine may be a network devicedesigned to handle network traffic. A general architecture for some ofthese machines will appear from the description given below. In analternative embodiment, the system may be implemented on ageneral-purpose network host machine such as a personal computer orworkstation. Further, the invention may be at least partiallyimplemented on a card (for example, an interface card) for a networkdevice or a general-purpose computing device.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a computer system 10 suitable for implementingembodiments of the present invention includes a master centralprocessing unit (CPU) 62, interfaces 68, and a bus 15 (for example, aPCI bus). When acting under the control of appropriate software orfirmware, the CPU 62 is responsible for such computer system tasks ascomputations and application management. It preferably accomplishes allthese functions under the control of software including an operatingsystem and any appropriate applications software. CPU 62 may include oneor more processors 63 such as a processor from the Motorola family ofmicroprocessors or the MIPS family of microprocessors. In an alternativeembodiment, processor 63 is specially designed hardware for controllingthe operations of computer system 10. In a specific embodiment, a memory61 (such as non-volatile RAM and/or ROM) also forms part of CPU 62.However, there are many different ways in which memory could be coupledto the system. Memory block 61 may be used for a variety of purposessuch as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programminginstructions, etc.

The interfaces 68 are typically provided as interface cards (sometimesreferred to as “line cards”). Generally, they control the sending andreceiving of data packets or data segments over the network andsometimes support other peripherals used with the computer system 10.Among the interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, framerelay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ringinterfaces, and the like. In addition, various very high-speedinterfaces may be provided such as fast Ethernet interfaces, GigabitEthernet interfaces, ATM interfaces, HSSI interfaces, POS interfaces,FDDI interfaces and the like. Generally, these interfaces may includeports appropriate for communication with the appropriate media.

Although the system shown in FIG. 6 is one specific computer system ofthe present invention, it is by no means the only computer systemarchitecture on which the present invention can be implemented.Regardless of a computer system's configuration, it may employ one ormore memories or memory modules (such as, for example, memory block 65)configured to store data, program instructions for the general-purposeprocessing operations and/or the inventive techniques described herein.The program instructions may control the operation of an operatingsystem and/or one or more applications, for example.

Because such information and program instructions may be employed toimplement the systems/methods described herein, the present inventionrelates to machine readable media that include program instructions,state information, etc. for performing various operations describedherein. Examples of machine-readable media include, but are not limitedto, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape;optical media such as CD-ROM disks and DVDs; magneto-optical media suchas floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configuredto store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memorydevices (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). The invention may also beembodied in a carrier wave traveling over an appropriate medium such asairwaves, optical lines, electric lines, etc. Examples of programinstructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler,and files containing higher level code that may be executed by thecomputer using an interpreter.

Although the foregoing invention has been described in some detail forpurposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certainchanges and modifications may be practiced within the scope of theappended claims. Therefore, the described embodiments should be taken asillustrative and not restrictive, and the invention should not belimited to the details given herein but should be defined by thefollowing claims and their full scope of equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: ascertaining, via aprocessor, a location of a particular participant of a conferencebetween two or more participants or of a hotspot that is proximate tothe particular participant, the two or more participants including theparticular participant; detecting available resources that are availableand proximate to the location, wherein the available resources compriseresources that are off-line or shutdown; receiving a request from arequesting participant in the two or more participants; in response tothe request and during the conference, providing status and locationinformation of the available resources that are detected and proximateto the location, wherein one of the available resources is selected,during the conference, by the requesting participant for use by theparticular participant during the conference; and in response to aselection of the one of the available resources, escalating theconference, during the conference, by upgrading a current resource of aplurality of current resources that is currently being used by theparticular participant in the conference to one of the availableresources.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one ofthe available resources is provisioned to the particular participant oris in use by the particular participant.
 3. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein at least one of the available resources is proximate tothe particular participant when the at least one of the availableresources is in a same geographical hotspot as the particularparticipant.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least oneof the available resources is proximate to the particular participantwhen the at least one of the available resources is within apredetermined distance from the particular participant.
 5. The method asrecited in claim 1, wherein the hotspot is selected from a groupconsisting of a specific room of a building, a specific floor of thebuilding, and a particular building.
 6. The method as recited in claim1, wherein each of the available resources is one of an instantmessaging application, an email application, a conferencing application,a meeting application, a soft Internet protocol (IP) telephone, aphysical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone, a personaldigital assistant, or a computer device.
 7. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein the status and location information comprises alocation of a badge of the particular participant.
 8. The method asrecited in claim 1, wherein the status and location informationoriginates from a radio frequency identifier.
 9. An apparatus,comprising: one or more processors; memory, wherein at least one of theprocessors and/or memory are operable to: ascertain a location of aparticular participant of a conference between two or more participantsor of a hotspot that is proximate to the particular participant, the twoor more participants including the particular participant; detectavailable resources that are available and proximate to the location,wherein the available resources comprise resources that are off-line orshutdown; receive a request from a requesting participant in the two ormore participants; in response to the request and during the conference,provide status and location information of the available resources thatare detected and proximate to the location, wherein one of the availableresources is selected, during the conference, by the requestingparticipant for use by the particular participant during the conference;and in response to a selection of the one of the available resources,escalate the conference, during the conference, by upgrading a currentresource of a plurality of current resources that is currently beingused by the particular participant in the conference to one of theavailable resources.
 10. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein atleast one of the available resources is provisioned to the particularparticipant or is in use by the particular participant.
 11. Theapparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein at least one of the availableresources is proximate to the particular participant when the at leastone of the available resources is in a same geographical hotspot as theparticular participant.
 12. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, whereinat least one of the available resources is proximate to the particularparticipant when the at least one of the available resources is within apredetermined distance from the particular participant.
 13. Theapparatus as recited in claim 9, wherein the hotspot is selected from agroup consisting of a specific room of a building, a specific floor ofthe building, and a particular building.
 14. The apparatus as recited inclaim 9, wherein each of the available resources is one of an instantmessaging application, an email application, a conferencing application,a meeting application, a soft Internet protocol (IP) telephone, aphysical voice or video IP telephone, a cellular telephone, a personaldigital assistant, or a computer device.
 15. The apparatus as recited inclaim 9, wherein the status and location information comprises alocation of a badge of the particular participant.
 16. The apparatus asrecited in claim 9, wherein the status and location informationoriginates from a radio frequency identifier.
 17. A non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: ascertaining a location of a particular participant of aconference between two or more participants or of a hotspot that isproximate to the particular participant, the two or more participantsincluding the particular participant; detecting available resources thatare available and proximate to the location, wherein the availableresources comprise resources that are off-line or shutdown; receiving arequest from a requesting participant in the two or more participants;in response to the request and during the conference, providing statusand location information of the available resources that are detectedand proximate to the location, wherein one of the available resources isselected, during the conference, by the requesting participant for useby the particular participant during the conference; and in response toa selection of the one of the available resources, escalating theconference, during the conference, by upgrading a current resource of aplurality of current resources that is currently being used by theparticular participant in the conference to one of the availableresources.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium asrecited in claim 17, wherein at least one of the available resources isproximate to the particular participant when the at least one of theavailable resources is in a same geographical hotspot as the particularparticipant or within a predetermined distance from the particularparticipant.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium as recitedin claim 18, wherein the status and location information comprises alocation of a badge of the particular participant.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, whereinthe status and location information originates from a radio frequencyidentifier.